Actuated expandable mouth thrombectomy catheter

Abstract

A clot retrieval catheter can have an expansile distal tip for flow restriction/arrest and improved aspiration efficiency and a large, distal facing mouth into which clots or other obstructions can be retrieved. The tip can be formed from a distal ring of leaflets or hoops. One or more pull cables can be retracted to actuate and radially expand the expansile distal tip. The clot retrieval catheter can have a catheter shaft with flexibility-adding features proximal of the tip. The catheter shaft can be a multi-lumen configuration with a large catheter lumen for passing auxiliary devices and directing aspiration and one or more guide lumens which can route the pull cables to the leaflets or hoops of the expansile tip. A flexible, low-modulus membrane can be disposed around at least a portion of the expansile tip and catheter shaft.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A thrombectomy catheter, the catheter comprising:
 a tubular catheter shaft comprising:
 a distal end and a catheter lumen with a longitudinal axis extending therethrough; 
 one or more pull cable guide tubes comprising pull cable lumens disposed about the circumference of the catheter lumen and extending the longitudinal length of the catheter shaft; and 
 one or more pull cables disposed within the pull cable lumens and capable of being operably tensioned by a user of the catheter; and 
 
 an expansile tip having a collapsed delivery configuration and a radially expanded deployed configuration, the expansile tip comprising one or more leaflets around the longitudinal axis and configured to assume a funnel profile when the expansile tip is in the expanded deployed configuration; 
 wherein the one or more pull cables are configured to actuate the expansile tip between the collapsed delivery configuration and the expanded deployed configuration when a tensile force is applied to the pull cables, 
 wherein the plurality of leaflets comprise one or more actuated leaflets and one or more passive leaflets, 
 wherein the one or more actuated leaflets and one or more passive leaflets comprise looped struts comprising a distal peak and one or more proximal joints connected to the catheter shaft, 
 wherein each of the one or more actuated leaflets further comprise tensioning members extending proximally from the distal peak of the leaflets and fixedly connected to pull cables, and 
 wherein the pull cables comprise bulbs connected to eyelets of the tensioning members. 
 
     
     
       2. The catheter of  claim 1 , wherein the actuated leaflets and passive leaflets are configured to slide on each other as the expansile tip transitions between the collapsed delivery configuration and the radially expanded deployed configuration. 
     
     
       3. The catheter of  claim 1 , the catheter shaft further comprising one or more distal cutaways from the pull cable guide tubes approximate the distal end, the one or more distal cutaways configured to allow the pull cables to exit the pull cable lumens at a shallow angle to the longitudinal axis. 
     
     
       4. A thrombectomy catheter, the catheter comprising:
 a tubular catheter shaft comprising:
 a distal end and a catheter lumen with a longitudinal axis extending therethrough; and 
 one or more pull cable guide tubes disposed about the circumference of the catheter lumen, the guide tubes having one or more pull cables disposed within pull cable lumens and capable of being operably tensioned by a user of the catheter; and 
 
 an expansile tip integrally formed at the distal end of the catheter shaft, the expansile tip comprising a plurality of leaflets configured to radially expand from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded deployed configuration when the one or more pull cables are tensioned, 
 wherein the plurality of leaflets comprise one or more actuated leaflets and one or more passive leaflets, 
 wherein the one or more actuated leaflets and one or more passive leaflets comprise looped struts comprising a distal peak and one or more proximal joints connected to the catheter shaft, 
 wherein each of the one or more actuated leaflets further comprise tensioning members extending proximally from the distal peak of the leaflets and fixedly connected to the pull cables, and 
 wherein the pull cables comprise bulbs connected to eyelets of the tensioning members. 
 
     
     
       5. The catheter of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more pull cables comprise two pull cables spaced 180 degrees apart around the circumference of the catheter shaft. 
     
     
       6. The catheter of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of leaflets comprise two actuated leaflets and two passive leaflets joined circumferentially to the actuated leaflets, each of the actuated leaflets being fixedly connected to one of the two pull cables; and
 the actuated leaflets are configured to actuate the expansile tip between the collapsed delivery configuration and the expanded deployed configuration when the pull cables are tensioned. 
 
     
     
       7. The catheter of  claim 6 , wherein the passive leaflets comprise a substantially horseshoe shaped profile. 
     
     
       8. The catheter of  claim 6 , wherein the actuated leaflets comprise a substantially larger portion of the expansile tip circumference than the passive leaflets.